Guandu Ancient Town is located in the southeastern suburbs of Kunming. It is one of the famous historical and cultural ancient towns in Kunming, with a history of BOo years. The ancient town is not far from Kunming city, but compared with the busyness, hustle and bustle of the city, it seems like a world away. After a heavy rain, Kunming in summer looks even more cloudless. I went to Guandu to see the legendary "black copper and silver" style.
The taste of old Kunming
Guandu Ancient Town is the birthplace of ancient Yunnan culture. Guandu is famous for its ethnic folk song and dance performances, including lantern operas, Yunnan operas, folk songs, folk dances, folk instrumental music, etc. Ethnic folk songs, dances and music performances are active on the folk stage all year round.
When we went there, we met several uncles and aunties who had just finished singing "Flower Lantern" and walked out of the pavilion before taking off their makeup. Overflowing with contented and happy expression.
According to reports, the old people in the town basically continue this kind of life-get up in the morning with a cup of tea, and then invite them in groups to sing lanterns or more ancient Yunnan opera somewhere; eat After lunch, we go to the teahouse to drink tea together. Such a leisurely life relieves people's stress to the greatest extent, thus developing the warm and hospitable character of Guandu people.
The Kunming Black Copper and Silver Crafts Museum is located beside the Jingang Pagoda in the ancient town. On the second floor of the eye-catching Jinliji Silver Building, it displays the history, production process, inheritance and traditional handicrafts of "Black Copper and Silver" Production tools, as well as the works and various honorary materials of the leader Kim Yongjae.
Jin Yongcai is the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of black copper and silver. When he was 18 years old, while wandering around the "flea market" in old Kunming, he was attracted by an ink cartridge with a black background and silver threads by chance. From then on, he became fascinated by the magical art of black copper and silver, and sought apprenticeships from teachers everywhere for this purpose.
Around 1985, Jin Yongcai followed the master’s secret recipe to study the technology of black copper and silver. He started by making a relatively simple pipe mouth, and then gradually explored the production of antique black copper and silverware such as ink cartridges, tobacco paste boxes, wine vessels, and the Four Treasures of the Study.
Now, with the support of the local government, Jin Yongcai has opened the Black Copper and Silver Walking Craft Museum, the Black Copper and Silver Walking Training Center, and the Jinliji Silver Building. The charming Guandu attracts tourists from all over the world all year round. From here, they learn about this unique craft with a history of 280 years, and from here they take exquisite works of art to distant places.
The sound of hammers in the training hall
When tourists walk on Guandu Old Street, they often hear the sound of small hammers hitting metal objects from the black copper and silver training hall. The sound was that of Jin Yongcai and several of his apprentices making exquisite black copper and silver handicrafts.
Push open the quaint wooden door of the "Golden Li Ji Silver Building" and cross the stone threshold to walk in. There are an overwhelming number of metal crafts such as pen holders, ink cartridges, small vases, and pipes displayed in the cabinets. The silvery decorations on their surfaces include plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums, flowers, birds, insects, fish, dragons, phoenixes, deers and cranes, as well as simple poems and songs. They are full of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting art. The overall appearance is elegant and luxurious, and highly ornamental. In particular, the decorative effect of clear black and white is solemn, deep, lustrous and very quaint.
This is black copper and silver. It uses copper as a tire, carves various patterns on the tire, and then fills the pattern with molten silver (or gold) water. After cooling, it is polished and smoothed. Over time, the base copper will naturally turn black, revealing the silver. (or gold) pattern, showing a distinct decorative effect of black and white (or black and yellow).
It is said that during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the craftsman Yue accidentally dropped a gold ring into the pot while smelting copper to make utensils, and the ring melted suddenly. He angrily threw all the things around him into the pot. Later, when he calmed down and went back to work, he found a special alloy of copper with a bright black color. He tried to use this alloy copper to make handicrafts, resulting in Yunnan's unique black copper and silver.
During the Republic of China, the black copper and silver industry reached its peak, with an annual output of more than 3,000 pieces, and its products were sold to Hong Kong and even abroad. In response to the needs of the times, Shiping Yuejia opened a branch in Kunming. At this point, black copper and silver became famous, and many officials and people rushed to collect them, making it difficult to find anything.
In the quiet small building, Jin Yongcai and a few disciples were carefully making black copper and silver. From time to time, they would carve carefully, and sometimes they would hold the semi-finished product in their hands and carefully consider it, and find out what needed processing and processing. Areas for improvement.
Black copper and silver are different from other metal handicrafts. Although they have gone through more than 280 years of vicissitudes, the entire process of pure hand-making has been completely preserved.
Because it is a purely manual craft, the tools for making black copper and silver are also quite traditional. The main tools include bellows, furnace, hammer (large and small), oil lamp, blowpipe (for blowing fire and silver), Pliers, chisels of different sizes (for carving patterns), etc. Since its development, the tools have been updated with the addition of a "skin tiger" and a spray gun, which are used in the silver-moving process. The main fuels used for walking are kerosene, gasoline, etc.
The key to the technology of silver removal from black copper lies in the "silver removal" process, that is, how to move the silver onto the black copper. Without mastering the proper chemical reaction principles and thermal principles, the silver on the black copper sheet will fall off, or the black copper billet will be damaged. From the perspective of metal melting points and fusion concepts, it is easier to move copper onto iron, but it is quite difficult to move silver onto copper. The cumbersome pure manual process of black copper and silver creates its exquisite and pure artistic taste.
The atmosphere of ancient craftsmanship
In the Jin family, there is a black copper and silver cigarette cream box with a well-fitting piece of ivory in the middle. "I bought the ivory by chance at the antique market for 800 yuan." Jin Yongcai saw the ivory alone, so he thought hard, and after repeated experiments, he finally made a cigarette paste box and took off the ivory alive. Go up.
“Old antiques must also be innovated. They cannot blindly copy ancient recipes and lack the flavor of the times.” Relying on this, the black copper silverware made by Jin Yongcai and his disciple Li Congzhong and his son have been selling well. Their works are often favored by collectors in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and antique dealers from all over the world often come to them to place orders.
Yunnan’s ethnic diversity and the richness of intangible cultural resources rank first among all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in the country, and its “intangible cultural heritage” protection has been at the forefront of the country for many years. However, we are also faced with the situation that many inheritance projects cannot be passed on and are dying out.
"Since last year, 38 people have come to sign up with me in one day, and they want to learn the art of black copper and silver." After getting along for a period of time, Jin Yongcai discovered that people who want to learn the art Have various purposes. "But black copper and silver rolling is a traditional skill unique to Yunnan. When we develop it, we must maintain its traditional Yunnan flavor as much as possible."
Li Congzhong went to Master Jin's house no less than 10 times. , and finally impressed the master with his sincerity, but Jin Yongcai had his own standards and requirements for accepting apprentices. In addition to the most critical "character", Jin Yongcai also asked Li Congzhong to guarantee: 1. Black copper and silver will never leave Yunnan; 2. .Li Congzhong’s daughter wants to marry someone from Jinning, and his son wants to marry a girl from Jinning; 3. In the future, he must find a way to register his household registration in Jinning; 4. Make black copper and silver the best in Yunnan.
Taking the opportunity of taking Li Congzhong as his apprentice, after setting up the Jinliji Silver Building, Jin Yongcai used the method of "supporting a museum with a shop" to open a black copper and silver walking skills exhibition hall and museum.
Time has given the black copper and silver a longer beauty. The ancient town of Guandu provides a huge stage for ancient Yunnan intangible cultural heritage and folk handicrafts. Against the background of ethnic folk songs, dances and music such as lantern operas, Yunnan operas, folk songs, folk dances, folk instrumental music, etc., the black copper walking silver is like a painting, quietly forgetting time in the flowing culture.